We are so pleased to welcome back Patricia Franklin- Onisha
A Few Thoughts
Patricia Franklin
Today was the day for a much needed trip to the dentist to take care of a cavity that needed to be filled. The dentist swabs the area, waits a few seconds, then reaches in and I feel a little pin prick. Was that her needle? That was easy. While I’m waiting for the anesthetic to kick in, I reminisce about trips to the dentist in the olden days.
My Grandpa had a penny tree down in the basement of his store and when we kids went to visit him there, he always had a few pennies for us in his pocket. What could you buy with a penny? Not much… I could not buy my favorite paper dolls or a comic book… but could always afford to buy penny candy. So we would wander on up the street to the candy store and spend our pennies on candy or bubble gum. We did love sweets and got our fair share every chance we got. Well, apparently these were not too good for the teeth, so eventually we would end up with a toothache and a trip to the dentist.
The dentist came to town one day a month to take care of everyone’s needs. If he had a full schedule, he did not have too much time in between patients. So I would sit down in his big old chair and he would tower above me and talk to me face to face while I watched him get his gigantic needle ready (no little numbing swabs to ease the pain in those days). He took that big old needle and jabbed it inside my jaw… then maybe ask me a couple of questions or tell a couple of jokes while he got out his drill. Then he would immediately start drilling…. all the time asking questions. I’m sitting there clutching the chair arms for dear life and wondering how I’m supposed to answer him with the drill rattling my head and the pain searing through my whole body. About the time he was done with the tooth, my mouth would begin tingling and the anesthetic would kick in. I never knew that the procedure was not supposed to hurt. I figured the numb mouth was to keep it from hurting for the rest of the day.
Today’s trip to the dentist….. A piece of cake. Whoops, maybe I better not go there.
Old Things R New 